Nazzeeras’ Roti Bakar Kacang Phool Penang is listed by curiostraveller.com in Malaysia Delicious 100 making it as one of the best 100 eateries in Malaysia

There’s toast and a bowl of Kacang Phool on the table. It’s prepared and cooked with love by Nasirah Shariff. You may address her as Nazzeera if you want. She wouldn’t mind. What she care about is her ability to please her customer’s palate. She wants to put the best on the table, making customers smile, an indication of their satisfaction. This is Roti Bakar Kacang Phool Penang at Tanjung Tokong, said to be the 1st, the one and only in Penang. This is our story about Nazzeera’s Roti Bakar (Toast) with Kacang Phool (Spiced Fava Beans).

The moment we came to her stall at Kompleks Desiran Tanjung, Nazzeera was preparing Roti Bakar for her customer. With her American accent, she gladly welcomed us. “Perhaps you two want to savor that toast with kacang phool?” she asked. We’re like kids, nodding, affirming. “Now, will that be plain, butter, garlic, cheese, garlic cheese or french toast?” she asked again. Lan was like speechless as he couldn’t decide (a typical sign of him that he wants all!). “One plain and one garlic cheese please.” I answered.

She started preparing everything while entertaining other customers; taking orders, explaining things, making kids happy, giving orders to her helper, ensuring that our drinks were properly made and at the same time trying her very best to answer Lan questions. All at once. Never seen that before. She’s so good at multi-tasking. She is to me a jocund person with great sense of humor, perhaps that’s why her customers love chatting with her!

This frill-free stall offers amazing delicacies inspired by her dining experience at a premise in Johor Bahru. What she had was, what else but Roti Bakar and Kacang Phool. It triggered her interest to commercially introduce Kacang Phool in Penang. Together with her mom, Faridah Mohd. Yusoff and other family members, they successfully did that in 2015, with a twist; a good one, incorporating home made spices with that said Kacang Phool. Not wanting to be stereotype, they have introduced western dishes in the menu.

Her initial thoughts was to have a bakery that sells Red Velvet Cake. Here she is now, proud with her Kacang Phool but again there’s a twist in the menu; there’s Red Velvet Cake! That’s not all as the western options includes Browned Butter Banana, English Lattice Apple Pie and many more. When asked about the possibility of having a cafe, she said “I prefer being in this place as it is more open to everyone, this particular stall ably to eliminate unnecessary costs hence the prices are affordable.”

It didn’t take long to get that mouth-watering Toast and Kacang Phool onto our table. Lan was having that dilemma; is a bowl of Kacang Phool sufficient for himself? It seemed that he wanted more. I can’t really blame him as it’s amazingly well-presented, served hot and that red gravy with sunny side up were indeed tempting. That fresh diced red onion and green chili gave an interesting contrast; increasing our appetite.

Chunks of Kacang Phool and finely diced beef were in that thick gravy; it had that texture perfect for that toast. It’s interesting enough to know that Nazzeera is using home made garlic butter for the toast. The toast served to us was crunchy but tender at the same time given that it’s quite thick. Such bread is indeed perfect for dipping into any type of gravy, especially Nazzeera’s Kacang Phool!

The best way to enjoy this dish is to dip smaller pieces of toast into that gravy, scooping as much as possible; the elements inside and eat it right away! We did exactly that as suggested by Nazzeera. You may if you want, have scoops of that delicious gravy and in between, have that toast. There’s no exact rule or etiquette when consuming this dish. Oh maybe there is. Use your hand and not fork as this way you get to savor the real flavor of Nazzeera’s Kacang Phool.

Squeeze that lime and let the juice goes into the gravy. Trust us, it gives that needed acidity to balance the gravy’s sweetness. The yolk? Scoop it directly to your mouth or mix it with the gravy; the choice is yours. The green chili was not that spicy when we chewed it; yes we always do that! If you need more green chili, just ask, be nice and you might be getting more than what you need.

Just steps away from Nazzeera’s stall is the beverage stall where customers may order their preferred drinks. If you are here and there is no one manning the station, just get Nazzeera’s attention; its her stall anyway. Just a reminder: don’t be tempted to ‘steal’ that banana! It’s not for sale anyway..it’s there for a reason; a good one!

Should you come here, have this Browned Butter Banana Ice Cream! We had one and it’s so amazingly delicious. There are no perfect words to describe this dessert: other than, it’s heaven. Oh, since we saw that little boy ordered “Teh O Ais Ikat Tepi”, we want it as well, enriching the taste with Lychee; a simple beverage but did complement the dish and dessert.

We truly enjoyed our brunch at Nazzeera’s. We came here solely for the Toast and Kacang Phool but we end up having that delicious dessert as well! We’ve met Nazzeera as well, a person who is so friendly, energetic, jocund and at the same time a person who cooks her food with love and soul. That, puts the best dishes on the table for her customers. Planning to come here, well-prepared with the menu in your brain? Here it is.